Book Review: Zero Day Threat

If you’re wondering why identity theft is such a problem, take a look at this book: Zero Day Threat by Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz, two reporters at USA Today.

The authors tackle the rise of cybercrime and show how it’s fueled by our carelessness. They trace the technology industry’s failure to develop secure products and show how that creates a worldwide network of data thieves who profit from malicious code. (The title, Zero-Day Threat, is a reference to something that’s worth a great deal of money to thieves–a software flaw with no patch).

They also show how the financial industry’s push for easy credit has fueled credit card fraud and talk about some of the criminals. Most pitiful is a group of meth-addicted kids in Canada who deal in stolen credit cards to support their habit.

I found the book hard to follow in places because of the way it’s written. Each chapter is divided into three parts–the exploiters, enablers and expediters of cybercrime–and I was distracted at times when I had to keep track of who was in which category. The stories don’t always flow.

I also wish Acohido and Swartz had covered less ground. They could have given more space to developing their own reporting, which is excellent, and less to rewriting stories that have already been reported by others. I didn’t read much that is new, and I would have loved to have read more about the connection between credit card fraud and meth. The authors could written several books from all the material they covered in this one.

Still, this book is a good overview of cybercrime and identity theft, especially for people who don’t usually follow the topic. There’s also good advice at the end of the book on how to secure your computer and avoid scams.